Ways to bear with more bears

Wednesday

Dec 5, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Some New Jersey animal rights advocates are protesting the Garden State's six-day bear hunting season. Like it or not, they better get used to both the bears and the hunting. Unless, that is, they are willing to endure more and more close encounters with bears.

Some New Jersey animal rights advocates are protesting the Garden State's six-day bear hunting season. Like it or not, they better get used to both the bears and the hunting. Unless, that is, they are willing to endure more and more close encounters with bears.

Wildlife biologist Gary Alt, an expert on the black bear, told a New Jersey journalist recently that bears are highly adaptable mammals whose population has risen sharply in recent decades. Like Pennsylvania, the Garden State provides a hospitable environment for the bruins. Mothers push their young males out of their home region when the adolescent cubs are from 18 to 30 months old, and these young bears range up to 100 miles away seeking new territory. They often end up in towns or even urban areas. People have expanded their own claim to the natural landscape, moving into areas that were once farms or unbroken woods. Bears are getting used to them there, so it's no surprise they would wander into settled areas, too.

Studies estimate New Jersey's bear population reached as much as 3,500 three years ago. The state's Fish and Wildlife Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy, which includes hunting, has brought the number down to roughly 2,900.

Still, sightings are commonplace and encounters frequent. Compounding the familiarity is people who feed bears. This is asking for trouble — and it's been illegal in Pennsylvania since 2003. Now New Jersey is considering a law that bans even unintentional bear feeding and would require bear-resistant garbage containers in some areas.

No-feed laws are prudent measures. As humans extend their reach, animals looking for a place to live are likely to brush up against people with growing frequency. Having a law gives game managers a tool so that one person's bear-feeding practice doesn't create a problem for someone else.

The big challenge is striking a balance between people's enjoyment of these large mammals and ensuring safety for humans and bears as well. Most likely, hunting will remain a part of that equation for the foreseeable future.